by Ann Oldenburg, USA TODAY

by Ann Oldenburg, USA TODAY

"So, I gotta ask, what happened on New Year's Day?" said George Stephanopoulos to Josh Brolin on Good Morning America today.

"New Year's," replied a jovial Brolin, not shying away from addressing his Santa Monica arrest for misdemeanor public intoxication, which led to a six-hour jail stay. "That's what happened."

He added, "I'm the one guy who's out there and they go, 'Hey, that's Josh. Let's grab him.' It was New Year's. It was a pretty innocent thing. It was a fun thing." And, he says, "They were actually very sweet to me."

He just wishes the police department had handed out a different mug shot. "The most awful thing about it you see this shot of me like this and they don't show you the other shot when I turn and have a huge smile on my face. ... Whatever."

Brolin, who plays a police officer in his new film, Gangster Squad, went on to chat about his early career. "I wanted to be a lawyer and realized it was the same thing" as his chosen profession. He explained, "I wanted to get into criminal law of all things. ... It's acting. The odds were worse but I wanted to go for this one."